Denver Nuggets Pregame: Brooklyn Nets (11/7/17)

The Denver Nuggets are back in action Tuesday night and are looking to sweep the season series against the Brooklyn Nets.

The Nuggets (5-5) face the Nets (4-6) for the second time in two weeks and are looking to have as much success as they did the first go around. Jamal Murray, Emmanuel Mudiay, and Nikola Jokic all had big games in the Nuggets 124-111 win at Brooklyn just a couple weeks ago. Since the two teams last meeting, the Nuggets have gone 2-2 and are currently in the mist of their longest homestead of the season. The homestead has started 2-1, with that one loss coming to the Golden State Warriors. Brooklyn has gone 1-2 since then and are currently on a five game west coast road trip. The Nets beat the Phoenix Suns 98-92 last night and will be playing the Nuggets on a back-to-back.

D’Angelo Russell currently leads the Nets in points and assists at 21.3 points and 5.6 assists per game. Russell is a score first point guard, but is only shooting 28 percent from behind the three-point line this season. Russell is also averaging 3.9 turnovers per game and could potentially give the Nuggets a chance to get some fast break point opportunities.

Last time the two teams played, the Nets were able to make 12 threes and got great contributions from bench players Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris. Dinwiddie is currently shooting 45 percent from behind the arc and is averaging 10.3 points per game. The CU alum is having a break out season and will try to keep it going coming back to the state where he played college basketball. Harris is shooting 39.5 percent from three and is averaging 9.7 points per game off the bench. Both are guys the Nuggets will have to look out for Tuesday night.

Brooklyn is the Nuggets fourth team they’ll face on this current six game homestead that’ll see them play Oklahoma City Thursday night, and Orlando on Saturday. Nikola Jokic currently leads the Nuggets in all three major statistical categories and is currently averaging 15.6 points, 11.6 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. Paul Millsap has also stepped up as of late and is averaging 15.2 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Gary Harris has continued to be his normal, consistent self, and is currently averaging 13 points and 1.5 steals per game.

A fun match-up to watch Tuesday night will be the point guard battle between D’Angelo Russell, Jamal Murray, and Emmanuel Mudiay. When the two teams played two weeks ago, all three point guards played well, and Mudiay played extremely well against Russell yet again. Remember that Russell was taken second in the 2015 NBA draft and Mudiay was taken seventh. Mudiay and Russell had some great battles when Russell was in Los Angeles and Mudiay seems to play with a “something to prove mindset” whenever Russell is in the gym. Hopefully we’ll see another great Mudiay/Russell battle Tuesday night at Pepsi Center.